Florida State came up short in its first real test of the season.
The Seminoles battled but ultimately couldn’t pull off the upset in an 81-72 home loss to top-ranked Florida on Tuesday.
Florida State (2-1) will try for a bounce-back performance when it faces Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (2-1) on Friday in Tallahassee, Fla.
Florida State held up in several areas against the Gators, possessing a better shooting percentage (43.5 to 41.2) and finishing with more points in the paint (32-20). The Seminoles were buried, though, by missing their first nine 3-pointers on the way to a 4-for-21 perimeter performance (19%) and by losing the rebounding battle 41-29.
“If we don’t shoot it well, we have to destroy teams on the glass …,” Florida State coach Luke Loucks said after the loss. “We didn’t do that tonight.”
Colorado transfer Sebastian Rancik was part of the problem from outside, missing 6 of 7 attempts from 3-point range. He made up for that by finishing 7-for-10 inside the arc on his way to a team-high 23 points. His scoring average of 22 points per game is third among Atlantic Coast Conference players.
The Islanders will play their first game against a high-major opponent after easing into the season with contests vs. Texas State, Louisiana and, most recently, a 102-58 win over Dallas Christian on Tuesday.
TAMU-CC flexed its size advantage in the win vs. the Crusaders, outrebounding them 51-24. But the Islanders allowed their opponent to shoot 9 of 17 from outside the arc (52.9%), raising their opponents’ 3-point percentage through three games to 40.
Islanders coach Jim Shaw knows that will have to improve as his team begins a four-game trip by playing Florida State.
“We’ve got to be better defensively from start to finish,” Shaw said. “The last five minutes of defense (we played), we’ve got to carry that for 40 minutes to win on the road.”
The Islanders feature balanced scoring, with eight players averaging at least 6.7-plus points per game. Desmond Kent Jr. is averaging a team-high 10.3 ppg on 61.9% shooting from the floor.